by johnnymarin | Aug 10, 2018 | Pigeons in the News
Chiang Mai City Life is reporting that the Public Health Office is warning travellers and locals not to feed the pigeons at Tha Pae Gate. This isn’t the first time tourists have been warned.
As the number of pigeons at Tha Pae Gate increases officials are concerned about health and hygiene issues. A report has been released again in an attempt to discourage travellers from feeding the pigeons. Since concerns broke out in the media, the Chiang Mai Municipality wishes to remind people that feeding the pigeons is a prohibited, and the sale of bird feed at Tha Pae Gate is illegal.
Despite the warning, there are still vendors active in the area selling feed, encouraging tourists to feed and take photos with the pigeons. Chiang Mai Provincial Public Health Office emphasised that during the monsoon season, influenza is easily spread especially among carriers like pigeons, and all are advised to avoid them.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by johnnymarin | Aug 9, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, California – Whether it’s Genghis Khan using messenger pigeons in 1201 or former Gen. James Mattis using a satellite phone in 2009, one thing remains clear; effective communications play a vital role in the military.
“During my time, I’ve been fortunate enough to see communications go from an analog to digital standpoint,” said Joey Trecartin, a retired chief warrant officer 5 who served in communications for 30 years as a network engineering officer, circuit card repairer, communication security equipment technician, and technical controller. “The evolution of communications has enabled commanders to make more informed decisions than generations past.”
When Trecartin was a private first class almost 30 years ago, he dealt with numerous radios and parts that did the same job of one lightweight, modernized radio today.
“30 years ago, communications was very different,” said Trecartin. “A radio was just a radio for voice communication. Now they are used to send data and have a lot more capabilities in a smaller package.”
Communications play an important role in the Marine Corps; it allows information to be pushed around the battlefield instantaneously so commanders can react to changing situations faster, and provide the warfighter access to information necessary to complete missions.
According to historians, on June 7, 1942, the Battle of Midway ended, in part because United States codebreakers at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, decoded Japanese naval communications. These actions enabled allied forces to predict an impending attack, highlighting the importance of communications on the battlefield.
“You want to have better rifles, better combat aircraft, better communications,” said Trecartin. “Communications allow commanders to have a real-time feel of what’s going on in the battlefield, which can ultimately save lives and win battles.”
Although modern militaries have instant access to real-time information at the snap of a finger, and no longer have to wait for carriers to deliver coded notes to commanders, how do we stay ahead of the enemy?
“More now than ever, we try to leverage commercial technology into our programs,” said Trecartin. “By seeing what is being worked on outside of the Marine Corps, we can take emerging technologies and apply them to a tactical environment.”
According to Trecartin, the mission of Marine Corps communications is to ensure that information is reliably transmitted from one point to another. That mission is achieved not only by having modern equipment, but also by improving the people and processes to make it a reality.
“Force modernization is going to better enable Marines that are forward deployed to connect with coalition and joint forces if need be,” said Trecartin. “If we’re modernizing our equipment it only makes sense to modernize our MOS’s so the Marine Corps can move forward.”
Marine Corps Vision and Strategy 2025 includes continuously innovating the Marine Corps by requiring that we look across the entire institution and identify areas that need improvement and effect positive change. The MOS’s in the communications field such as field wireman and cyber network operator were some of the many changed in support of Marine Corps force modernization. The new MOS’s in place of field wireman and cyber network operator are network administrator and data systems administrator, which play a key role in communications by establishing networks and configuring cyber systems.
The Marine Corps quickly picks up on what we have to do to change and stay ahead of the enemy,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua Causey, transmissions chief, 9th Communications Battalion, I Marine Expeditionary Force. “It’s my job as a leader to train my Marines so they can be the next generation of combat communicators.”
As the Marine Corps continues to prepare for the battles and conflicts to come, the field of communications will continue to improve how we communicate in battle and in garrison.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by johnnymarin | Aug 8, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Pigeons may be a common sight — and nuisance — in major cities, but they’re a relatively new problem for Gander, where officials are not at all happy with avian visitors that have made a home out of a town depot.
“They seem to be relatively prolific, if you give them a good nesting place and a source of food,” said Gander mayor Percy Farwell.
Over the last decade, pigeons have nested in Gander’s salt storage facility, to the point where they have now created a hazardous working environment town staff.
“We have to deal with this issue here,” said Farwell, “because our staff are being forced to come in and breathe the air in here and it’s not the best place in the world to be.”
Farwell said the risks to staff who are exposed to the pigeons can be serious.
“Typically it would be forms of lung infection and so on, that may or may not even be noticed depending on how severe it would be,” he said. “There’s two or three different diseases that are typical and we just need to eliminate that risk for our workers.”
Prevention strategies
The Town of Gander is collaborating with animal services such as the SPCA, as well as pest control services to figure out the best way to remove the unwanted guests.
“There have been some efforts made around netting and mesh and stuff to try and keep them out of the rafters, but they’ll always find other ways in,” Farwell said.
“The risk here too is if you notice a location where they’re able to get in and you simply go and seal that up — well, now you’ve sentenced them to a death up there, because they can’t get out.”
Still, Farwell said pigeons are considered pests, which is a why a pest control company is being hired.
The CBC’s Melissa Tobin talks to Gander Mayor Percy Farwell about the infestation of pigeons at the town’s public works depot and how they plan to deal with the problem. 6:10
At some point soon, the company will start trapping and removing the birds.
“We’re trying right now to improve the situation for the benefit of the workers here and try to mitigate it the best we can at the new facility.”
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by johnnymarin | Aug 7, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
While many of us think of the weather as merely a guide for our wardrobes, there are numerous industries, like aviation and energy, that depend on meteorology for their business.
A drought, for instance, will certainly have an impact on hydroelectric facilities in California and on farmers and ranchers.
That could be why many Americans spend so much money on instrumentation to track the weather for their homes and businesses.
Animals seem to have an innate knack to do just that. Enter American racing pigeons.
The birds can live up to 20 years and, like thoroughbred racehorses, are fed the finest grain and treated with tender loving care.
Central Coast resident Mike Brazil, who passed away last year, bred and trained American racing pigeons for more than 50 years.
He would drive more than 450 miles to Northern California to release his flock along with other groups of pigeons.
After traveling northward in a specially designed trailer, the athletic and highly trained birds were raring to get into the air and fly back home.
Upon release, the pigeons go straight up in the sky, like a rocket out of Vandenberg Air Force Base, and circle overhead for a few moments to get their bearings and judge the winds.
“The sky can turn nearly black with so many pigeons in the air at once,” Mike once said.
American racing pigeons rely on the sun, landmarks, Earth’s magnetic field and even smell to navigate their way home.
Most impressively, they use their own instinctive ability to find the location of tail winds in mere seconds, unlike meteorologists with the most sophisticated weather analysis tools who may take hours.
The airspeed of a racing pigeon is roughly 45 mph. With tailwinds, their actual ground speed can reach nearly 100 mph for brief periods.
During the spring and summer, the winds through the Salinas Valley are often out of the northwest at the surface, heading toward the southeast below the temperature inversion layer.
The winds are often strong and persistent, perfect conditions for pigeons.
Eric Wessel has seen his pigeons flying along Highway 101 near the ground, brilliantly avoiding obstacles with a twitch of their tails or a beat of their wings.
If a cold front is coming down the coastline, the winds near the surface are often out of the southeast and blowing toward the northwest, producing strong head winds for the birds, while the winds higher up in the atmosphere can actually be blowing in the opposite direction.
Somehow, the birds know that, and they can be seen as tiny specks streaking across the sky as they take advantage of the tail winds.
Most researchers agree the birds probably have an internal compass to navigate by following the Earth’s magnetic field.
Scientists have discovered clusters of nerve endings wrapped around magnetic iron oxide on each side of the pigeon’s upper beak, which may act as that compass.
Racing pigeons are affected not only by the weather at the surface of the Earth but also by space weather.
On cloudy days, solar storms can disrupt a pigeon’s natural compass, causing it to lose its way.
After about eight to 10 hours of flying southward from Northern California, the birds arrive at their Central Coast homes and are carefully logged in to determine who won the race.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by johnnymarin | Aug 6, 2018 | Bird Deterrent Products
The Box Elder County Fair, one of the most celebrated spectacles of summer in Utah, is made possible by the behind-the-scenes work of an army or volunteers.
Over the last 12 years, few have given more time and effort to the cause than Bob Belew.
Belew’s specialty at the fair and throughout the year is small animals, specifically chickens and pigeons. He has served as a mentor to hundreds of youth in the 4-H small animal program, teaching them the finer points of showing the birds and doing all that it takes to win a coveted ribbon at the fair.
While chickens, pigeons and rabbits have been part of the huge livestock show for decades, there was no organized 4-H club for that classification until Belew came along, and at the request of fair organizers, started one.
For three years, he politely declined requests from the USU Extension office for him to start a club, until a grandson of his grew old enough to participate in 4-H. Belew took his grandson to a poultry club event in Farmington, and the boy took a shine to the birds. That was all the motivation he needed to get organized.
“They called again the next year and I said I’ll do it,” he said. “Twelve years later, here we are.”
In the club’s first year, Belew signed up about a dozen kids to participate. That number has grown steadily over more than a decade, and chickens and pigeons have become a mainstay at the fair thanks largely to Belew’s efforts.
“Thursday nights we would hold meetings starting the first week of June up until fair time,” he said. “I taught kids the right way to put a chicken in the pen and take it out, and the judges would ask five or six questions. We would give every kid a medallion with a ribbon to put around their neck. I wanted to see every kid at least get one of those.”
Membership in the chicken club quickly grew from around 12 kids to about 45, and it wasn’t long before the Extension office came knocking again, asking him to start a pigeon club as well.
“I had pigeons as a kid, so I thought I could link them together (with the chickens),” he said. “We don’t do showmanship with them, just put them in pens and the judges pick best of show, best of breed, best pair trophies. But the kids still get their prize money.”
But his contributions to the fair don’t end with birds. Belew has been a tireless fundraiser, forming relationships with local businesses and county officials to raise money for new facilities and building renovations and improvements at the fairgrounds, and for prizes for the annual chicken and pigeon shows. His grassroots efforts have helped build new poultry pens and other structures, and generally help make the fair’s livestock show second to none in the state and the region.
Belew has created long-lasting relationships with local prize sponsors, up to point where the program now receives more than $1,000 in gift cards every time the fair rolls around.
“We make sure they all get a thank you card, and every one of them says ‘see you next year.’”
He gives credit to the generous spirit of the local community for making things happen.
“Box Elder County is the most giving bunch you’ve ever seen,” he said.
He recounted the story of one local business owner who donated as he has done every year, despite being in a life-or-death battle with cancer.
“He’s in the hospital and I didn’t know if I should ask this year, but I went there (to the business) and his daughter said he told her to ask if we wanted gift cards,” Belew said. “He’s fighting that battle, and was still thinking about doing that for the kids. That’s the kind of people you find here.”
He has also become a go-to guy for distributing the annual fair book guide. Every July, Belew enlists the help of 4-H kids to take copies of the book around to local businesses from Brigham City to Snowville and all points in between.
“We deliver to more than 100 businesses and cover about 270 miles by the time we’re done,” he said.
Belew will turn 79 this year, and said he isn’t sure how much longer he will be able to continue his work with the fair. For the last two years he has been mentoring someone to eventually take over the work, but for now he says he continues to be motivated by the spirit of the fair.
“This fair is one of the best in the country, and it’s the biggest thing in Box Elder County,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of what I do at the fair.”
But the longest-lasting impressions he will take away from the work when he finally decides to call it quits will be the positive impacts he has been able to have on the kids in the program. Making a difference in the lives of youth makes all the hard work worthwhile for him.
“My concern is always teaching them to be responsible for their animals,” he said. It gives them something to do, keeps them off the street.”
He recounted a story of a couple with a son who was very shy, and they couldn’t talk him into to participating in the showmanship portion of the chicken program. They asked Belew to have a talk with the boy, and watched their son come out of his shell before their eyes.
“I sat him down and told him how proud his mom and dad would be if he did this. I told him that he knew the answers to all of the questions, and he could do it,” he said. “He missed one question and got third place, and that mother and dad, just the look on their faces — that’s all that mattered.”
Belew’s long-standing contributions to 4-H and the Box Elder County Fair will be recognized in August when he takes his rightful place as Grand Marshal in this year’s fair parade.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
